TUNIS, Nov 29 (Reuters) – Tunisian police arrested prominent opposition figure Chaima Issa at a protest in the capital Tunis on Saturday to enforce a 20-year prison sentence, her lawyers said.
An appeals court handed jail terms of up to 45 years to opposition leaders, business leaders and lawyers on Friday on charges of conspiracy to overthrow President Kais Saied, in what critics said was a sign of increasingly authoritarian rule.
During the protest, just before Issa’s arrest, she and two of the other convicted politicians called for the fractured opposition to unite and escalate demonstrations against Saied.
“They will arrest me shortly,” Issa told Reuters. “I say to the Tunisians, continue to protest and reject tyranny. We are sacrificing our freedom for you”.
She described the charges as unjust and politically motivated.
MORE ARRESTS ARE EXPECTED
Police are also widely expected to arrest Najib Chebbi, the head of the opposition National Salvation Front, the main coalition challenging Saied.
“We will not gain freedom except by unity,” Chebbi, who got a 12-year prison sentence, told Reuters at the rally.
“We are ready for prison, we are not afraid,” said opposition figure Ayachi Hammami, who got a five-year sentence. “I hope that the youth will expand protests until the authorities reconsider, or else be swept away by the will of the people.”
Saied says he is fighting traitors, corrupt figures and mercenaries. He accuses civil society groups of receiving foreign funding with the aim of interfering in Tunisian affairs.
Forty people were charged in the case, one of the largest political prosecutions in Tunisia’s recent history. Twenty of those charged have fled abroad and were sentenced in absentia.
The sentences ranged from five to 45 years, according to a court document seen by Reuters.
Rights groups said the ruling was an escalation of Saied’s crackdown on dissent since he seized extraordinary powers in 2021. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International called for the immediate annulment of the sentences.
Critics, journalists and activists have been jailed and independent NGOs suspended.
(Reporting By Tarek Amara; Editing by Toby Chopra, Timothy Heritage and Andrew Heavens)
